PhonePe launches celebrity voice feature with Amitabh on its SmartSpeakers

NEW DELHI: PhonePe has launched a first-of-its-kind celebrity voice feature on its SmartSpeakers in collaboration with the iconic Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan.

This new feature will allow PhonePe SmartSpeakers across India to validate customer payments in Bachchan’s distinct voice. This industry-first celebrity voice feature is currently available in Hindi and English, with plans to roll this out for other languages in the future.

The PhonePe SmartSpeaker was launched a year ago, and since then, four million devices have been used by merchant partners across 19,000 postal codes (covering over 90 per cent of the country).

In what is a true testimony to their popularity, the SmartSpeakers validate 100 crore (1,000 million) transactions across the country. The addition of a celebrity voice, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, will enhance the payment experience for both merchants and customers, making it more interactive than ever before.

"We are delighted to launch a unique celebrity voice feature for our SmartSpeaker for merchant partners across India. Bachchan’s voice has an instant and universal recall, and it resonates with millions of Indians across the country," said Vivek Lohcheb, Head of Offline Business at PhonePe.

"Being a popular Indian app used by one in four Indians, we believe this collaboration will further elevate the popularity of the PhonePe SmartSpeaker for merchants and customers alike," he added.

To enable this new feature from the PhonePe for Business app, merchants will need to first open the PhonePe for Business App and then go to the SmartSpeaker section on the home screen.

Under ‘My SmartSpeaker’, click on ‘SmartSpeaker Voice’ then choose Amitabh Bachchan’s voice in the preferred language and then click on ‘Confirm’ to activate the voice.

The device will get rebooted with the updated language in Bachchan’s voice within a few hours.

Moreover, some of the other features that make PhonePe SmartSpeakers stand out in the market include portability, a best-in-class battery, great audio clarity even in the noisiest of environments, and the compact and versatile form factor, which allows merchants to use it even in the most congested counter spaces.

Earlier merchants using feature phones relied heavily on SMS, but now with the PhonePe SmartSpeakers, their payment validation experience has been significantly eased.

PhonePe SmartSpeakers provide voice payment notifications in multiple Indian languages, with up to four days of battery life, dedicated data connectivity, a dedicated battery level LED indicator for ease of use, audio alerts for low battery levels, and a dedicated replay button for last transaction.

By offering such convenience to merchants, PhonePe is seeing the successful adoption of its SmartSpeakers in the market, thus enabling an increase in digital payments.